Hummus Said | Another day, another chickpea.

Lunchin' with the missus and my work friends is fun.

The only downside is when you have a bunch of people trying to decide where to go for food.

On this occasion it was surprisingly easy; everyone wanted to eat at Said's Tel-Aviv branch.

Who am I to disagree? It's nearby, delicious and fairly priced.

msabbaha: a mix of hummus, tahini, chickpeas, lemon juice and hot sauce

The missus ordered a msabbaha and was very pleased with it.

The warm, spicy and savory dish is a great take on hummus, with the chickpeas mixed into the hummus-tahini mash-up, as well as added on top for texture and flavor.

Freshly chopped parsley is a colorful garnish but also adds lots of fresh flavor.

mahluta: hummus, ful (fava beans) chickpeas, tahini, spicy lemon sauce, olive oil and paprika 

The mahluta is my favorite spin on hummus in this fine location.

The hot fava bean stew is a great contrast with the room-temperature hummus and the cold tahini.

The warm chickpeas add a texture play to every bite, and the lemony-spicy sauce that is added makes you want to dip your pita again and again.

Bottom line: while the original Said (located in Acre, Israel - locally known as Akko) is well known for an amazing hummus - this branch has a hummus paste that is average by itself, and is usually upstaged by the supplements.

However, to get to Akko I'd have to take a train, so this is pretty good for a work lunch.

Also: if you're there - try the shawarma.   

Food Porn: The Little Things

Can't quite recall why was it that I stopped doing compilation posts, but here's a comeback!

A digest of various meals, dishes and stories.

Descriptions below each image, just like I used to do.

Hope you like it, drop a line if you do, drop a line even if you don't, I've been getting mostly spam comments for several weeks now, it's quite disappointing to find bot generated nonsense each time I expect something real, don't people have opinions anymore?

Come on, ask me something, it's getting lonely here!

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people from Kurdistan and with Kurd genes can't eat green fava beans cos they lack the G6PD enzyme so they can die

Just some of my home cooking.

Fresh green fava beans, cooked in crushed tomatoes, with cumin, paprika, garlic, black pepper, date syrup and mustard seeds.

The rice has some garam masala in it, and sumac too. And also some mustard seeds, I was adding them to everything that evening. It was delicious.

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mushroom pizza with sriracha

I had several horrible experiences with Pizza Seret and was glad to see they returned to their marvelous norm. All it took was a bite from this slice with mushrooms and a bit of sriracha, I was in pizza heaven again.

It's bad when good places turn wrong, but it's great when they relapse.

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pizza flavored bourekas with a hard-boiled egg, crushed tomatoes, pickles, tahini and a hot chilli pepper paste

Pizza bourekas with the works. I had the exact same post a while ago, but it wasn't the same bourekas.

This was after an early Halloween party this Friday, it was also a housewarming party for a couple of friends.

We walked the streets, slightly drunk, looking craving for a pizza. Mama's Bourekas was the only thing open in the immediate area. It was pretty good. 

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soft smelly cheese

Lately I've started purchasing funky cheeses. I mean moldy, smelly, pungent, soft, covered in weird colors, the kinds that make your fridge and pee smell weird.

They're delicious.

Here's me enjoying them on a walnut rye. Good times.

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eggplant and tahini ciabatta

Ciabatta, with a big chunk of eggplant baked into its top, and lovely thick tahini hiding beneath the layer of eggplant. A touch of coriander was the garnish added to it by the baker, I added some coarse salt when I got home and ate it like a madman, not stopping for a second, completely disregarding my surroundings.

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pickled cabbage

Hummus Asaf which is my favorite hummus got their pickled cabbage recipe back. Their last few batches were unlike the amazing sweet and savory cabbage strings I used to devour, but like I said, they recreated the original recipe after a few mediocre months.

It's worth a visit even if you hate hummus, just order anything, you'll get the cabbage anyhow.

Forget that, just walk in and ask for a tiny bowl to go, they're good people.

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chicken selects, McDonalds

A two image feature.

Lunch at McDonald's, indeed one of the simple joys. I don't eat burgers, prefer to avoid ground meat and generally dislike what McDonald's represent and do, but every once in a long while I eat a chicken meal.

The ultimate junk food, but still, I'm lovin' it (and feeling guilty about it).

McDonalds: fries, ketchup, BBQ sauce, sweet n sour sauce

And that's it for now.
Don't forget to write!
Also, if and when you do, please add an animal that starts with a C, just for fun.

Hummus Porn

Following some appreciation from r/foodporn I've decided to gather some of my latest hummus photos, the ones I didn't post here yet, knowing that they'll be well enjoyed. 

Here you go:

Ronnie Ful: Hummus with an egg, and a msabbaha

Hummus Sayid: "Meshuleshet", hummus, tahini, msabbaha, fava beans, chickpeas

Hummus Assaf: Soft chickpeas and tahini

Bethlehem Hummusm, Tel-Aviv

Another meshuleshet by Sayid's Tel-Avivian branch

Another one by Assaf

Nadim's Hummus

Danny Ful, Jaffa

Hummus Sayid are back!

After a many doubts and a very long hiatus, Hummus Sayid is now open again!

I promise I'll do a more informative post soon, with a full coverage and some more pictures, but for now here are two photos I took today:

Hummus, cooked chickpeas, olive oil, a hard boiled egg and touch of tahini and parsley

Hummus, ful (fava beans), tahini and msabbaha, with parsley and spicy lemon sauce on top

Pizza Bourekas with the works

Going out for a night on the town might make you quite hungry, especially after a few drinks.

This was a wonderful solutions: Pizza flavored bourekas with a hard-boiled egg, crushed tomatoes, pickles, tahini and a hot chilli pepper paste sauce thingy (skhug), along with a cold strawberry Schweppes.

This amount might not satisfy when very hungry, but it was more than enough since I ate a slice of pizza walking towards the place. Mama's Bourekas also serve malawach, jachnoon and other types of dough with cheese and stuff. They also have pretty cheap booze, which is also great if you want to keep on drinking and the food is just another stop on a long binge.

All dishes are served with a hard-boiled egg, tahini, pickles, crushed (grated actually) tomatoes and skhug - a (very) spicy red pepper paste.

The Three Way Hummus (Meshuleshet)

Fauzi Ful take the centuries old art of hummus to new heights

The "Meshulesht" (Heb. triplet) is a popular dish in Israeli and Arab hummus restaurants.

Basically, it's a taster's platter of the hummus staples:

• Plain: Just hummus (other variations are with toppings such as boiled eggs, cooked chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, spices, parsley etc)
• Masabaha: A mix of hummus, tahini, chickpeas, spices, garlic, lemon and often hot peppers. Usually the mix of all the above is prepared upon order and is served warm, smothered with olive oil.
• Ful (fava beans): The beans are cooked until soft and usually served hot, on top of plain hummus. The fava bean stew is usually lemony.

The plate seen in the picture has all three, plus a hard boiled egg, a generous amount of olive oil, cumin, paprika and freshly chopped parsley. 

This was an amazing meshuleshet  I ate at Fauzi Ful, a new hummus place in South Tel-Aviv. It's located on the outskitrts of the Florentine neighborhood, bordering with Jaffa.

The place is a tiny one story building, randomly placed on the edge of a parking lot. It is surprisingly clean, well lit, welcoming and exceptionally affordable (somehow they offer the lowest prices in the area).

Above all, the hummus there is awesome.

I was told that the owner and head cook left the nearby Bethlehem Hummus to start a business of his own - the results are outstanding.

A great meal for a sunny summer afternoon.

Food porn: sandwiches, hummus, noodles

People looking from the outside might think that I keep eating variations of the same foods all over again. Sure, some veggies, a sandwich, hummus, meat, noodles. Yeah, I guess that's about right.

Are not all foods are variations on a limited amount of ingredients?

Is music not a variation on the same 7 notes all over again?

This is from a new place called Mikveh Sandwich Bar. They close up even before I get off work so this was on my day off. I tried two sandwiches and they were pretty good. Not the best ever but they are singled out by the fact that MSB bake their own bread which is a Moroccan semi flat mini loaf and it's wonderful. They also make most of the sauces, cure all of the meats and make the most amazing spicy home-fries.

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Just a lil' something I made at home. Cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar over sprouts. The meat in the sandwich is from a deli and the bread is also bought but the I did create the bell pepper spread inside it.

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A great plate by Assaf, I've previously mentioned it - it is wonderful.

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A corned beef sandwich that really deserves respect ad appreciation. Just look at it!

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This is called The Imperial New Dish: whole flour egg noodles, chicken, pork, bacon, green veggies, spicy sauce and cashew nuts. I also added shredded peanuts on top and there was a party in my mouth and belly.